DEALS

Hurricane Bertha unlikely to make landfall in U.S.

A surfer enters the water to take advantage of the high waves in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Saturday. Bertha pushed just south of Puerto Rico on Saturday as it unleashed heavy rains and strong winds across the region. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MIAMI — Newly formed Hurricane Bertha was churning northward Monday far from land, posing no direct threat to the U.S. East Coast.

The center of the storm is expected to stay offshore as it passes wide of the U.S. mainland over the next few days, and the storm is also likely to miss Bermuda. A forecast map shows that Bertha could brush Canada’s easternmost provinces as a post-tropical storm later this week.

“There’s no direct impact that will be felt on the U.S. East Coast. However, there could be added surf and rip current conditions,” said Dennis Feltgen, spokesman for the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

“We’ve still got the peak of the season to go on the Atlantic side, mid-August to mid-October,” Feltgen said.

The storm strengthened to a hurricane Monday morning with maximum sustained winds near 80 mph (130 kph) with little change expected in the next 24 hours. It was forecast to start weakening Tuesday. The hurricane was centered about 230 miles (370 kilometers) northeast of Great Abaco Island and is moving north near 17 mph (28 kph).

On Sunday, the storm buffeted parts of the Bahamas and the Turks & Caicos with rain and gusty winds, after passing over the Dominican Republic and causing temporary evacuation of dozens of families as its downpours raised rivers out of their banks. Earlier, it dumped rain on Puerto Rico, which has been parched by unusually dry weather.

Before Bertha reached the Turks & Caicos, residents pulled boats ashore or moored them at marinas in the tourism-dependent archipelago that has little natural protection from strong storm surges. Tourism Director Ralph Higgs said hotels were “taking the threat of the storm seriously.”